The application claims the priority of application Ser. No. 103 15 140.0 filed Apr. 3, 2003, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to an aligning device for a headlight in the body of a vehicle, having an adjusting element which is arranged between the vehicle body and a carrying part of the headlight.
From German Patent Document DE 40 17 701 A1 (Corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,934), an adjusting device for a housing of a headlight in a motor vehicle is known, which comprises a holding element in a holding ring of a headlight and a fastening element penetrating the holding element. For compensating dimension tolerances of the vehicle body parts, the holding element can be fixed in different positions.
It is an object of the invention, to create an aligning device for a headlight in a motor vehicle which can be mounted with minimal expenditures and by means of which an aligned position of the headlight can be implemented in a simple manner in a receiving device of the vehicle body.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by providing an aligning device for a headlight supported by a vehicle body of a motor vehicle, having an adjusting element which is arranged between the vehicle body and a carrying part of the headlight, wherein the adjusting element comprises an elastic ring which is clamped in between holding parts by means of an adjusting screw and is supported in a ring sleeve of the carrying part, and wherein the adjusting screw is held at the vehicle body in a threaded nut in several possible adjusting positions of the headlight.
Additional advantageous features of preferred embodiments of the invention are described herein and in the claims.
Important advantages achieved by means of the invention are that the headlights can be installed in the motor vehicle in a precisely aligned manner. For this purpose, it is advantageously provided according to the invention that the adjusting element comprises of an elastic ring clamped by way of an adjusting screw between holding parts, which ring is supported in a ring sleeve of the carrying part, and the adjusting screw is held at the vehicle body in a threaded nut in possible adjusting positions of the headlight. As a result, it is advantageously achieved that the headlight can be inserted in its receiving device in the fender with a precise uniform course of the joints and can be fixed in this position at the vehicle body by way of the aligning device.
In order to create an operationally reliable device, it is also provided according to the invention that the holding parts comprise two sleeves which are arranged coaxially to one another and can be slid inside one another. The elastic ring is arranged clamped in between opposite flanges of the sleeves. In the one sleeve facing the vehicle body, a sleeve section of the other sleeve is held in a fitted-in manner, the adjusting screw being supported by way of a disk on the end face side of the other sleeve. The adjusting screw can be fastened to a bent-away leg of the vehicle body in a threaded nut, for example, in a snap nut or in a rivet nut.
According to the invention, the elastic ring of the device is constructed so that it can be radially braced by means of the adjusting screw as a function of a pressing force of the sleeve flanges and so that, in the case of the arrangement in different possible angular positions, the adjusting screw can be fixed corresponding to the “correct” position of the headlight. This permits a compression of the elastic ring and thus a radial swelling-out of this ring for achieving a holding force or clamping force in the ring sleeve of the carrying part.
So that the adjusting screw can be screwed in a simple manner by way of a tool, the screw head has a hexagon insert bit and, in addition, an hexagon socket. Furthermore, the free end of the adjusting screw is provided with a hexagon section, so that the adjusting screw can be turned also from this side, which becomes necessary when the screw head cannot be reached by the tool.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the elastic ring can be arranged in the adjusting element between two L-shaped holding parts and can be held in a clamped-in manner between tightening disks held on an adjusting screw. The elastic ring of the adjusting element is arranged in a receiving can placed in front and held in a ring sleeve of the carrying part. A gap is provided between the holding parts so that the elastic ring can be compressed. In this embodiment, the tightening disks of the adjusting element, on the one side, rest against the screw head of the adjusting screw and, on the other side, rest on an inserted spacing sleeve, which spacer sleeve is supported by means of its end facing away from the tightening disk on a bent-away leg of the vehicle body. In this embodiment, the aligning device of the headlight, with respect to its function, corresponds to the construction of the embodiments described above, which can be screwed into the carrying part of the headlight, permitting in a simple manner also a subsequent installation into existing systems.
According to another embodiment of the invention, at least two mutually facing cup springs can be arranged between two tightening disks or one tightening disk of the adjusting element and the screw head of the tightening screw, which cup springs extend radially to the interior wall surface of the ring sleeve of the carrying part for the headlight.
Furthermore, according to another embodiment, the elastic ring is arranged between two mutually diverging cup springs in the adjusting element, and the cup springs rest against the tightening disk.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.